Wet Vacs and Sump Pumps and Mops. Oh my!

Four days of rain with no end in sight until tomorrow and the basement is once again flooded. Been through this at least twice a year for the last eight years since we bought the place. Poor drainage from the roof, a pond 25 feet from the basement door with improperly installed overflow pipes and a foundation that leaks like a sieve mean I'll have to take the day off to save the farm again. I feel so Sally Field today in my rubber boots.

Paul and I have been up all night valiantly trying to stay ahead of it. The pic here is from a flood we had in '06. The pond level was like this when I got up this morning. Fortunately, the rains haven't been as heavy this time, just steady.

The tarp on the right of the house is to try to keep the rain away from the foundation. The patch of grass to the right in the pond is our little island which is usually about 18 - 20 inches above the water level.  The overflow pipes run under the driveway (where this pic was taken from), which is an earthen damn. They're not low enough. The water backs up into the pipes of the French drainage system around the foundation, which is suppose to drain the rain water into the pond. It gets in around the foundation and comes up through the floor.

Every time this happens I want to do something painful to the builder, who also dug our pond and the two neighboring ponds. Today my pacifist philosophy is in conflict with my Irish temper. I am hard pressed to rise above my baser instincts, but I have (so far) managed to avoid temptation.

Thank God for flood insurance.